Pa. town with foul-mouthed ex-chief to close dept.

GILBERTON, Pa.—A week after a Pennsylvania borough announced the departure of its polarizing police chief, officials have voted to begin the process to abolish its police department.

Former Chief Mark Kessler was the only officer on the Gilberton police force. He reached a settlement last week that pays him $30,000 and allowed him to retire from the force.

Gilberton officials suspended Kessler last year and tried to fire him after he posted videos of himself shooting borough-owned automatic weapons and cursing liberals and others. The videos garnered hundreds of thousands of views online.

The (Pottsville) Republican-Herald (http://bit.ly/1dX8A7E ) said Kessler wasn't mentioned at Thursday's meeting. Council members said abolishing the force needs to be done by ordinance.

Since Kessler's suspension, the Pennsylvania State Police has provided police enforcement for Gilberton.